Harp is Good for Education, Not For Fun

Harp – The Harp App has just been released! After a long-awaited arrival, this musical iPhone app features a sweep-touch virtual harp with 14 chord structures in any of the 12 keys. This equates to a total of 168 unique chords.

The Harp application is a great educational tool for learning intervals, chords and chord progressions. It's no wonder Harp was awarded the title of the “Best Educational Application” at the iPhoneDevCamp 2 in San Francisco, California.

Harp is played by using the left hand to select the desired chords (using an interchangeable key diagram) and simultaneously sweeping the right hand along the ‘strings’ to cue the tones in a 4-octave range.

In spite of its ease of use, we have some constructive criticisms for this application.

The samples are very cheesy — even a few simple effects could improve Harp ten-fold. Some cool ideas could be to add some reverb or possibly delay effects. With its lack of effects, we think Harp will have a tough time keeping up with other musical iPhone Apps.

As for sound quality, Harp sounds like a children’s Sesame Street keyboard or a real life xylophone. The soothing harp feeling just isn’t carried over through this app.

Overall, Harp is a good learning tool and we can’t wait for the publicized new (and improved) Harp 2. For version 1, we give Harp a solid 6 out of 10 rating.